Teachers : what's the worst thing about the job now?

[Floursacktabletop]

I've name changed , but been here many years and teaching for 22 years.
Dreading going back on Monday. For me , the worst bit is the increasingly poor behaviour of students and the continual parental complaints and allegations.
Anyone else dreading it and fancy a solidarity thread?

So many of dc's teachers "lied" about them when they were in Y8 it was unbelievable. Literally unbelievable.

Poor sods had to deal with it without any Sen support. And they had to ring me up to tell me. And then I had to talk them through what might help...to make their life easier without them being able to do the thing that would really help...

Finally got support from school and things improved. But lots of class teachers suffered in the mean time. And senior management did not back up. Trying to get them to take kid out when dysregulated as kid needed it to stop having a meltdown and the teacher needed it to teach not manage a meltdown...(Kid doesn't learn stuff when having a meltdown so no point trying to keep kiddo in class)

All that stress for child parent and teachers all down to.lack.of Sen provision...(And a few biscuits)

But why shouldn’t parents send messages when it is convenient for them? You only answer them when it is convenient for you. Many parents won’t be able to send messages when you are working because they are working.

^

Er, don't message at all???
I never message my kid's teachers

I may get flamed for this, but in my experience this often happens because they are struggling to cope with their child's behaviour, and feel that an autism diagnosis would explain why they're struggling so much, and feel a sense of relief 'it isn't just them'.
We've also experienced parents wanting a diagnosis because of concerns from school or poor behaviour/outcomes, and that will suddenly magic up extra support for their child. It unfortunately isn't that simple.

^

I agree with all this. It then gets the parents off the parenting hook, as it were

'Oh yeah little Timmy punches people, it's cos he's autistic'

Not because I CBA parenting him, oh no

I'm not a teacher and my dc left education nearly ten years ago now so no (current) skin in the game.

I started a thread on here a while ago (before covid) asking teachers what they thought should change to help the teaching profession because I'd seen so many threads about teachers leaving and others being at breaking point.

The replies were brilliant and it seemed like the replying teachers had such a clear insight.

Reading this thread though I feel so sad that maybe the change required are too embedded into society now. Obviously I can imagine better support and more money and smaller class sizes etc etc. But I just can't see how the behaviour of pupils (are you even allowed to call them pupils any more?) and of the parents will change. 😞

Yes, parents are not parenting and yet they expect you to work miracles and blame you for their child's behaviour.

Lecturer, not teacher. post-covid, we have had a lot of complains about poor student behaviour - mainly talking or not paying attention during lectures.

However, I think the main problem is not the students, but the staff - the complainants are just outright bad lecturers. Maybe this is a generational thing, maybe not but some of them are Gen Zers themselves and therefore just not as socially capable, more "neurodiverse" and more fragile than previous generations.

I started secondary teaching in 1970 and it was a fabulous career. We were largely left to our own devices, minimal observations, just annual reports/parents' evenings, no phone calls from.parents demanding why Johnny has been in detention etc. Obviously some changes have been for the benefit of both students and teachers, but the incredible stress & workload of teachers is unsustainable. There is far too much distrust of teachers, forcing them to defend their work, their interactions, & leadership teams are too quick to allow parents to rule the roost. I was pleasantly surprised to see the new head on Waterloo Road, (TV programme you won't have time to watch) refused to bow down to parental power and do what she thought was best for the school. Nothing riles me more than idiots saying teachers only work until 3.30 pm and have 13 weeks holiday. Just try it for a week chummy, and you'd be on your knees!

I'm having a break as a SAHM and honestly my toddler is more reasonable than many teens and many SLT (which I was on).

For me, the thing I don't miss most is the feeling like you're in an abusive relationship almost, made to feel guilty if you push back against a ludicrous and often pointless demand of your/staff's time on the grounds of work-life balance. (Bbtw, I was never workshy and worked ridiculous hours each week so my threshold for BS was pretty high). Yet one's concerns are always met with "Think of/do it for these poor children." So the martyrdom I guess, which I often felt was not optional.

I do miss the mostly wonderful young people though, despite how unreasonable some can be. But sadly, all things considered, I'm not sure that's enough to want to return to a job I once loved so much. Having DC has made me realise how I lived to work and my life is so much fuller and richer ironically now I'm not even employed.

This is not unusual, sadly.

Yes, this. Is it worth it?

For most teachers no. But it can be difficult to change jobs after 10 years of teaching.

Many new teachers leave after a few years whilst they still find it relatively easy.

I'm 56 amd should be OK to make it to 60.

SLT who behave like they've never set foot in a classroom
Colleagues who interfere without helping when you are dealing with with an incident

14 years in. Not even half way through…

HOD of a core subject at a secondary school.

Echoing previous posters. A decade ago, I would have said workload was the problem. Now it’s behaviour, even in my lovely grammar school, it’s behaviour which is enabled under poor parenting and ‘SEND needs’. The mass labelling of students is an urgent concern and parents need to step up and take responsibility for their child that disrupts.

98% of my students are fabulous. I love my job but the 2% gets worse each year.

But you do have 13 weeks holiday.

That's just a fact.

Also how many other careers have such a proliferation of "early retirement". Guarantee you wouldn't be able to do that on a private sector pension chummy

What you'd more likely get is 30 years hard graft - to then be made redundant because you're simply too expensive (NI increase has prompted at least 5 of these in my company), and nothing you can do about it except hope you squirrelled enough away above your companies 4% pet month

It's a hard job, but I'm sick of the martyrs pretending there's zero benefits

I'm.at a school where we are overhauling the curriculum in my subject. Each weekend I.am spending 5h doing my portion of developing. It ridiculous. This is before I've done other planning. Got procedure in hospital that requires 2 days off- first thought is, that's 8 lessons to cover😫 if pupils behave and you can teach your lessons, then I can to some extent ignore the BS from SLT. Been doing it 30yrs. Looking forward to having my weekends back. Had 1 year when I was part-time. Worked on my day off so didn't have to work weekend.

13 weeks off on paper but not in reality. This h term.i.have done the equivalent of at least 2 days. I.am.going early but will get another job. Need to work. There is always summat hanging over you. I genuinely believe if discipline was dealt with in the hime life would be more pleasant at school for kids and staff. There would be more learning

If you think teachers have it made, why don't you retrain to become one? God knows there's a shortage nowadays due to thousands leaving every year.

We’re having similar. Student finds English ‘triggering’ because we talk about death and always runs off to the welfare hub. Mum complaining (has never asked to speak to English though, just HoY). Our curriculum is freely available at open evening. You’d also be hard pressed to get through years7-11 of English without talking about death. I’m getting frustrated.

Can we add people like this to the list?

I’m SLT in secondary.
I’m also the parent of a 15 year old with an EHCP (ASD/ADHD/PDA - all diagnosed by CAMHS).
For me, the worst two aspects of the job (and as a parent) are the ridiculous levels of accountability (to the MAT, to Ofsted, to parents); everything is completely results driven. This year, because the current Y11s didn’t do SATs (Covid) there is no P8 measure. So this year, we only give a shit about English and Maths results. Completely morally wrong. The kids know they only need 4s to get into 6th form (around where we live anyway - lots of schools/colleges competing for 6th formers) and tbh I agree. We test them at 16 in 8 or 9 subjects, on a 10 point scale. We don’t need this amount of information - I could tell you right now which Y11s will go to RG unis, which will go to other unis, which will go to college and which will be NEETs. Don’t need 2 sets of mocks and the actual exams to tell me that. And a bell curve distribution which means a third of them are guaranteed to fail.
Next week, one of my key tasks will be looking at the reorganisation of our SLT roles so they start to align better with the new proposed Ofsted framework. Not because this is what the school needs, but because this is what Ofsted will come in to measure.
Secondly, linked to the above, the complete inappropriateness of the curriculum. Gove’s obsession with the rote learning of facts. Exams are just a giant memory test. The destruction of the arts and vocational subjects.
My child is one of those SEN students who is just complete overwhelmed by school. Too noisy, too many rules for him to manage, a curriculum that doesn’t meet his needs. He can’t manage a full day, so has been told he needs to drop two of his options (that he likes and is doing ok in) but has got to carry on with science (which he loathes and will inevitably fail).
I genuinely think that with less obsession with outcomes, and a more appropriate curriculum, a lot of the behaviour and SEN needs would be much less of an issue. The pressure on teachers, and therefore on the students is the issue
for me, both as SLT and a parent.

@ThriveAT

Also how many other careers have such a proliferation of "early retirement". Guarantee you wouldn't be able to do that on a private sector pension chummy

I don't believe teachers who started after 2007 can get their full pension until 67 or 68 (whichever is their NPA). I don't think they will get a lump sum either.

I can get £9k at the age of 60. I don't think I can live off that until state pension kicks in at 67 So not sure it's what I would call 'gold-plated'.

On another thread I was on someone in the private sector said they had an employer who contributed loads to their pension. Lots of people in private sector get other benefits too. Just open a thread about annual bonuses. I don't hear people complaining about those getting bonuses or company cars or fancy lunches.

I left primary teaching four years ago, and without being big headed (sorry I know it’s big headed) I was a bloody good teacher and I loved those children.
However I should have been a teacher 25 years ago when teachers were allowed to walk in their classroom and teach their kids as they want and know how.
Not ticking thousands of boxes and being the exact same as every other class in the school, following rigid schemes.
I saw an old colleague and the school I left now sounds HELL. I would never go back. It’s sad for children as good teachers are leaving.

Parents will often send messages expecting you to read and reply asap eg, half an hour or less before home time to tell you that they will be late or that their child isnt going to the after school club so please have them at the door to go home (not somehow realising that you dont have time to read or respond). Or they will message at 8pm or later to ask about something for the next day.

Not a teacher here but an invested parent. We are considered "strict" by old standards.

I spoke to the teacher once because DS had ripped his homework (primary) out his book because he said it was too easy and a waste of his time. Whilst punished at home for the crime (!!), I also spoke to the teacher and said I thought she should know and potentially there should be consequences in school too. Teacher said no need for punishment she would talk to him instead.

In my daughter's class, the behaviour is so bad that when she complains she is distracted by other behaviours and can't concentrate on her work / other children aren't concentrating on learning and falling behind meaning they can't move on with the curriculum, they give her ear defenders rather than deal with the poor behaviour. Thankfully they do let her explore her own learning now and / or let her read whatever she wants (and will discuss with her after / in the playground).

It makes me worry about choosing a secondary and discipline is top of my list. However, it's quite difficult to know whether "a bit strict" from particular parents means it IS strict or just to lowered standards. Minefield

Generally our school is good (recent Ofsted outstanding not 15 years ago outstanding) but the staff teaching quality is not consistent. This year we are very lucky but there is one member of staff who gets complained about every year. SLT protect said teacher openly to parents who complain but from other teachers comments, they know said teacher is a weak link.

There should be accountability in schools and teachers should be contactable in the same way other professions are accountable.

The LA SEND specialists said that in their opinion, the increase in SEND has multiple causes. Better birth survival from premature birth, older mothers, screens, increased awareness of SEND, fewer special school places, parenting without boundaries from preschool. Individually none of these would have seen the huge increase, but together the perfect storm has been created.